Computerized maintenance management systems are integrated software applications that manage plant and facility workload management, maintenance and repair orders, purchasing, inventory, and preventive and predictive maintenance. Like any information systems technology, a computerized maintenance management systems must evolve or die. To maintain currency, developers of most hybrid computerized maintenance management systems add "closed-loop" plant floor tools. These tools provide real-time information on the relationships between manufacturing processes and equipment reliability.

• planning,
• scheduling,
• preventive maintenance programs,
• materials management,
• environmental and safety compliance, and
• statistical maintenance control.

In short, traditional computerized maintenance management system systems developed merely as a preventive maintenance tool rather than as an enhancer or enabler of organizational competitiveness.

Figure 1 shows the interrelationships between organizational business units. The core information management system in the left grouping is the corporate or enterprise information group (Information Technology, Management Information Systems, and so forth). On the right, the core information management stems from the computerized maintenance management system application. The applications must synchronize overall operational and production objectives with equipment reliability and maintenance.

Even though the tangible benefits of computerized maintenance management systems are documented, the industry continues defining and standardizing the evolution of these applications. As definition and functionality mature, the question for the future is one of how the computerized maintenance management system will ultimately evolve within the overall enterprise.

The availability of powerful new technology and the demands of global competition create a golden opportunity for fully open, configurable, client/server computerized maintenance management system integration. In order for a computerized maintenance management system to capitalize on the opportunities presented, it must bring to bear a new generation of systems development.

Global implementations
Traditional computerized maintenance management system developers focus on a single language and processing functionality. As manufacturers expand globally, multi-language, multi-platform, and multi-national capabilities are increasingly important, perhaps critical. Once a manufacturer starts dealing in this global, multi-plant environment, the demand for open client/server computing exceeds the ability of most traditional computerized maintenance management system applications.

Re-engineering the total enterprise with customer oriented manufacturing management systems requires the integration of every mission-critical function within the organization, including asset care. Again, only a few computerized maintenance management system applications support this link.

Performance and application portability
The rapidly changing business landscape is continuously being linked at a blinding pace that tracks the pace of software and hardware development. Using open client/server computing avoids the problems of the traditional segmentation of proprietary client/server computerized maintenance management system applications. The client/server approach distributes the data from host data servers so the applications can be accessed by the data users (clients). The applications must be capable of running on multiple hardware platforms to maximize benefits of investments in computing equipment and they must optimize performance.

Client/server applications have the ability to run on multiple computer hardware platforms with multiple database configurations. This allows multi-site deployment of computerized maintenance management system applications to maximize the corporate computing assets. It also increases the speed of data processing and retrieval. How many times have you waited for your inventory balance or backlog report to print?

Client/server computing also provides ease-of-use desktop presentation and the "intuitiveness" that most maintenance and materials people like. This point-and-click capability speeds implementations through softer learning curves for users unfamiliar with computers.

Object orientation
Information is a key resource for business success. The information available mushroomed over the past decade to a level that is almost, if not actually, unmanageable. A higher level of information management is crucial and object encapsulation may be the answer. Object oriented software promises a number of exciting management tools for future computing. It offers unified methods for data access with text, graphics, and video imaging. Object technology using "rule based" methods of encapsulation can be used on any platform offering interoperability opportunities. It allows software to scale smoothly from small businesses to global enterprises.

CMMS market overview
Computerized maintenance management system software and service revenue grew from $200 million in 1990 to more than $500 million in 1994. This represents a growth rate of more than 100 percent. Automation Research Corporation estimates that worldwide computerized maintenance management system sales will reach $750 million by 1998. Domestic industrial spending on equipment is expected to grow 15 to 20 percent per year for the next five to ten years. Two factors drive this growth:

• the industrialized world's continued economic recovery with manufacturing increasing capital outlays and the computerized maintenance systems required to manage, and
• the continuing pressure for competitive plant reliability and compliance with environmental and safety regulations.

As non-technical maintenance and materials managers consider information technology, they invariably confront the gap looming between two perspectives--technology and the application of the technology. Information systems of the past have been brittle, difficult to use, and mostly ineffective. Today, a new breed of computerized maintenance management system applications requiring strategic planning and deployment are confusing to asset care professionals.

Organizations must maximize their investments in maintenance information management systems, while providing a straight forward understanding of how to asses, evaluate, implement, and apply maintenance management information systems. Organizations must seek partnerships with CMMS application consultants who align themselves with enabling architectures and successful asset care re-engineering. Otherwise, it is likely that end-users will not have the strategy or resources to maximize the computerized maintenance management system investment as technology changes.

The best investment protection for a computerized maintenance management system starts with a thorough understanding of the existing maintenance process. It continues with knowledge of the application of the maintenance system in concert with these processes and the company's technological strategy for the future. This statement is true regardless of the size of the organization. It is true for a new computerized maintenance management system replacing an existing system. It is true for the current system at the site.